looking for info on Polish RAF pilot Wladyslaw Zigmund Nowak.

[Thermal]

Hi there,

I´m looking for any information you might have an a Polish officer (rank unknown) named Wladyslaw Zigmund Nowak (his middle name is sometimes spelled as Sigmund) .

He is the nephew of (and named after) the better known F/O Wladyslaw Nowak who downed a He-111 in the night of 10-11 may 1941 while flying for no.306 sqn.

So there should be 2 Wladyslaw Nowak´s in the Polish records.

The Nowak I´m looking for was based at RAF Northolt at some time in the war (so possibly 303, 306, 315 or 316 sqn??)
All I know is that he flew Spitfires so there for I assume he joined an operational squadron after mid 1941. He survived the war and stayed in the UK until his death some years ago.

Sorry for the fact that I can not provide more info on places and dates. Any help would be appreciated. The man in question is the father of a friend of mine and she does not really know a lot about his wartime experiences since she was rather young when he died.

Thanks a million

Anton


PS Any tips of other forums/message boards where I could post this question would also be welcomed.

[VoyTech]

Wladyslaw Zygmunt (that's how you spell his middle name in Polish) Nowak, born 4.6.1919, service no. 781512
According to my files he was not a pilot in any Polish fighter squadron during the war. On 27 November 1944 he had a minor taxiing accident in Hurricane KZ399 of No. 679 Sqn at Ipswich. I cannot say if he was a pilot of the squadron, or a ferry pilot at the time. In each case he may have flown Spitfires but not operationally, and not at Northolt. His service number indicates he has arrived in UK in 1940, and he may have been a ground crew member (possibly on Spitfires, possibly at Northolt) before training as a pilot.
He ended his service in the WW2 Polish Air Force at the rank of a Warrant Officer.
Your friend might apply to the MOD for detailed information about his service, both pre-war in Poland (if any) and in Britain during and after WW2.

[Chris Goss]

MoD will only supply career details to next of kin so she will have to prove she is that

[VoyTech]

Chris, could that be any difficult if she's his daughter?

[Franek Grabowski]

Polish Institute & Sikorski Museum and PAFAssn. are other addresses worth contacting. Last but not least, perhaps the easiest would be to look for documents and photos at home.

[Chris Goss]

She has to prove she is next of kin i.e there is no Mother or elder siblings

[Thermal]

Wow, thanks for the info all, especially VoyTech.

I will check his birth date. I´m not sure but it does match with his current age if he´d still be alive.

and he may have been a ground crew member

VoyTech from what info would you assume this?? Could very well be that he started of as ground crew.

My friend is the younger one of 2 children. Her mother is still alive. But do I understand correctly that although she is his 2nd child she is not considered next of kin ???.....strange

Thanks for the tip Franek but searching in the house gave no results. He never kept pictures or any memorabilia form that time. Hence her search. Why now? I don´t know. Better late the never right? But I will surely convey the Polish Institute & Sikorski Museum info to her.

But do you have some more info on the PAF Assn? Could not find anything about them on Internet. I´m probably using the wrong search terms??

Many thanks for the input all....also on behalf of my friend. And if anything else pops up, I would gladly hear about it ofcourse.

Anton

[Franek Grabowski]

Anton, there is even better if widow is alive. Assumption that he was a groundcrew comes from the fact he was registered in 1940 as a member of PAF, and his service on 679 Sqn suggests, he was under training at the time.
Here you are contact details.


238-240 King Street

Mapa

Tel:

020 8846 9487

Hammersmith, W6 0RF

Tel:

020 8741 4052

London

Fax:

020 8748 6169

[Peter S]

...and ask for his "yellow card"

[Amrit1]

Try phoning

Ministry of Defence,
APC Polish Enquiries,
Building 28B,
RAF Northolt,
West End Road,
Ruislip,
HA4 6NG,
Tel: 0208 833 8603
Fax: 0208 833 8866
e-mail: polishastdisoff@northolt.raf.mod.uk or polishdisoff@northolt.raf.mod.uk

They were quite happy to supply full records of two Poles killed in the war, even though we were not next of kin, or even related. The lady in charge was fantastic. We even got the accident cards etc

And the Sikorski Institute were very helpful with a photo of one of the pilots

A